Beasts Obstacle Course Racers (Beasts OCR) is a group for people who love obstacle course racing in the North West. Beasts OCR started one night when 12 people who met online got together because they were always looking for people to run obstacle course races with and train with. This group will be looking for OCRs and other races in the North West as well as setting up meeting times for OCR training and runs. We are all about supporting each other and creating the largest regional team in the North West with a focus on OR, WA, ID, MT, and BC Canada!
Here are some of the Testimonials from Beasts on why they love this group
Obstacle Course Racing – Teamwork! Compassion! Strength! Integrity!Teamwork:
The Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Community is really amazing. Way beyond what I ever would have expected. Everyone is there for each other during the race and between races with encouragement, advice, and unconditional support (and sharing post-race stories like giddy teenagers when you’ve exhausted your talking/listening quota with friends and family).
Compassion:
What I also really admire is the way the OCR’s give back and support various charities and give us an opportunity to be a part of that, making the races about more than the runs themselves, but about making a difference in other people’s lives.
Tough Mudder supports The Wounded Warrior Project which has raised over $8.5 million to date.
https://toughmudder.com/wounded-warrior-project.
Spartan Race partner’s with Everydayhero to allow racers to raise both money and awareness for those in need, with 40 official charitable partners.
https://spartanrace.zendesk.com/…/202704033-Spartan-Race-A-…
I belong to an on-line OCR group called the Beasts Obstacle Course Racers . They are just an amazing bunch. The group is setting up their own 501C3 to help at risk people by introducing them to OCR races and sponsoring them.
Strength:
OCR’s build more than physical strength. Getting through something you never imagined you could, makes you stronger in every way imaginable. One of my favorite examples was at Tough Mudder this year….a group of three 60-something women were running it together. They struggled, looked concerned along the way, and asked how in the world they were going to do it. With other’s help (including my two amazing running partners Gene and Chris Hunter), they got over, under, and through the obstacles and they looked so incredibly happy. Their eyes absolutely twinkled like a little kid doing something super fun for the first time! They didn’t give up…they grew and became stronger (and had a ton of fun doing it).
Integrity:
I’ve really found my passion in OCR races and admire the people I’ve met and the integrity they hold. I’ve heard so many stories of getting belongings back to their owners, helping people above and beyond, and of course helping others conquer obstacles during the race.
Teamwork! Compassion! Strength! Integrity! Being a part of something bigger than the individual is what brings the magic to the sport.
Finding the Beasts
Last year I started out with this crazy idea to run the Seattle Super and I had no idea why or how, but I signed up anyway. I was invited to join the Beast OCR group shortly after the Spartan Workout Tour in February of 2015. I remember seeing this group of people laughing and joking around during the workout but had no idea who they were. Later in May I finally got together with the group at the next workout tour and could not believe how much fun we all had during the long and challenging workout. There were many times we were exhausted and sweating like crazy but everyone kept pushing each other, laughing and having fun.
The real testament to how this group really is happened for me started at Warrior Dash in July 2015. Warrior Dash was my first OCR and I was really nervous. When I found myself falling back I met up with two other team members who stayed with me and helped me as I started to conquer my fear of heights while climbing obstacles that really pushed my limits.
In Tough Mudder I ended up running with team members that were much faster than me, but never left me alone. The line “no Beast left behind” proved to be very true. I rolled my ankle and injured my ears around mile 4 of the 10 mile course but I was determined to not give up and the guys I was with were also determined to finish as a team. No madder how slow, someone hung back with me and we finished the course as a team. On the course it wasn’t un-common to hear the battle cry, “How deep? BALLS DEEP!!” being yelled across the course. This battle cry came out when ever we needed a morale boost or saw team members ahead or behind us. This provided not only encouragement but also served as comic relief to all that were on the course. The course left me bruised and beat up but my confidence in the team was only made stronger.
Then came the Spartan Super in Seattle. The night before I had completed the four hour Hurricane Heat which ended around 10pm then started in the 8:30am heat already bruised and sore from the night before. While on the course I ended up by myself for a little bit but eventually met up with other members of the team, 3 of which had just done the Hurricane Heat the night before as well and another person whom this was her first Spartan race as well. What happened on that course was awesome. We spent the entire time helping each other both physically up and over obstacles but also mentally by always being there to provide encouragement and a laugh no madder how hard things got. In the end when I saw the fire jump I almost cried. I had just completed my first Spartan Super with the best bunch of people you could imagine.
The last testament to this group deals with my kids and in particular my 8 year old son. He has two developmental disabilities but nothing stops him. When joining this team I had a lot of hesitations about how they would react to him and his goal of running his first Spartan Kids Race. What I found was a group of people who wanted to do anything they could to help make that a possibility for not only him but others like him as well. In the end my son, along with my two daughters did their first Spartan Kids Race with a few other kids on the team and came out feeling like the could conquer anything in front of them!
To sum it up, this group is about two main things that make a huge difference. Courage and Camaraderie that is matched by nothing else!